Broncos reportedly interested in Falcons’ Mularkey

Douglas LeeDec 15, 2010 1:00 PM

According to a report from Adam Schefter on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, the Broncos may have interest in Falcons OC Mike Mularkey for their head coaching position. Mularkey, who was head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 2004 and 2005, has been the Falcons' OC for three seasons. The 11-2 Falcons are fifth in the NFL this season in scoring with 335 points and ninth in yardage.

Mularkey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that while unaware of Schefter's report or of any interest from the Broncos, he is indeed interested in becoming a head coach again. When asked specifically about pursuing a HC job, Mularkey said,

I would like the opportunity again. I would, if it ever presents itself.

Without going into further detail, ESPN's Pat Yasinskas writes that Denver could fit the profile of what Mularkey might seek in terms of a franchise's ownership and front-office structure. Apparently, Yasinskas has no idea what's been going on in Denver...

In Mularkey's first two seasons as Atlanta's OC, the Falcons ranked 10th in points and 6th in yards (2008) and 13th in points and 16th in yards (2009). Mularkey also coordinated the 2006 Dolphins offense, one that ranked 29th in points and 20th in yards.

Mularkey has been referred to by the nickname "Inspector Gadget" thanks to his penchant for trick plays. He earned the nickname during his time as the Steelers' OC from 2001 to 2003, when he had the versatile Antwaan Randle El, Kordell Stewart and Hines Ward at his disposal. Earlier this year, Steelers blog Steel Curtain Rising wrote:

...while Mularkey perhaps got a little too captivated with his own innovations, Pittsburgh’s offense enjoyed a lot of success during his tenure.

As Buffalo's head coach, Mularkey led the Bill to a 9-7 record in 2004 before slipping to a 5-11 record in 2005. He surprisingly resigned from his position in January of 2006 after HOF coach Marv Levy was appointed GM. Mularkey reportedly cited concerns with the structure of the organization, which of course is a source of great concern and mystery in Denver.

Note: Thanks to IAOFM reader Rig for the tip.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

Many thanks to Doug for the update. Obviously, these articles are mere speculation - I don&#8217t think that even the Denver FO is foolish enough to violate league standards for &#8216poaching&#8217 - they can&#8217t interview or contact anyone until the season ends. Even so, Mularkey has the advantage of familiarity with the system that McDaniels has been using.

I like the idea of interviewing Ron Rivera for a number of reasons. I don&#8217t know his contract status (SD could put the ka-bosh on the idea, if they have the right to block him interviewing with a division rival - but Rivera has done an excellent job with the SD defense since taking the job over mid-season last year. The players seem to respond well to him, his knowledge of defenses is encyclopedic and becoming a HC is his next natural step. And, as todd says, it would be a kick in the source of a lower voice to steal him from SD. I don&#8217t know how he and Wayne Nunnely get along (and I do hope that Denver keeps Nunnely), but he&#8217s worth consideration.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2010-12-16 18:14:34

Mularkey is certainly more of an intriguing choice than Kubes.

I hope Rivera gets considered as well. Stealing him from SD would be an added kick in the beans for our rival!

I&#8217d imagine that both will be much sought after when this season ends, as there are so many possible vacancies on the horizon.

Posted by Broncotodd on 2010-12-16 16:08:44

I saw that Nick But I would bet he would want a lot of player selection and draft control to go with a good salary. I think that might prohibit him from coming here but I would like a Super Bowl winning coach that likes Tebow here.

Posted by Dennis Mitchell on 2010-12-16 12:28:01

I&#8217m sure we will see it in Doug&#8217s Lard in the morning, but Woody Paige wrote an article tonight and it said that Jon Gruden privately said he would be intrigued by the Cowboys, 49ers and the Broncos.

Posted by NickCast on 2010-12-16 09:38:51

I could see the following:

Give Xanders full GMmanship and maybe throw in a sidekick, hire mularkey and a strong DC and OC like Wade Phillips and Josh McDaniels (he&#8217s a FA right?)or maybe Ben McDaniels, either we need an OC with the last name McDaniels just to keep some consistency&#8230 I here thats important. So what the hell I&#8217ll take. maybe throw in Jim Harbaugh as &#8216official playcaller&#8217 and eric decostas as assistant to the regional manager and were good

Posted by Rig on 2010-12-16 05:08:04

excellent point TJ, we cant give woody any desirable names like Mc and stud or malarky, excellent well thought out post.

Posted by Rig on 2010-12-16 04:55:26

I&#8217m against it because if he gets hired, Woody will be tempted to use the phrase, &#8220what a bunch of malarky.&#8221

Posted by TJ Johnson on 2010-12-16 03:33:53

Dennis -

As far as the dead money, actually that is Shanahan&#8217s issue. Goodman (Jim) was involved in organizing the Broncos drafts increasingly from 2005-8, but he never held the GM title officially - Mike did. As I understand it, Sundquist was responsible for contracts, which was why they brought in Xanders originally - to manage the cap, contracts and dead money. That&#8217s one part of the team that has improved.

I do find it interesting that while the McX team was handling drafting and personnel decisions, much was made of how they worked closely together on all of it. Some decisions Xanders even took the heat for, such as the A. Smith choice. Recent comments from Dove Valley have held a different tone, indicating that it was McD all along. It&#8217s revisionist in any case; whether accurate or not I doubt that we&#8217ll ever know.

Posted by Doc Bear on 2010-12-16 03:27:56

The mere fact that we&#8217re hearing about head coaches before GM&#8217s is scaring me. Looks like they&#8217re heading down the wrong path again

Posted by T.Dot_Bronco on 2010-12-16 03:02:38

Thanks, Doug, for your efforts on this one.

His defense in Buffalo was pretty good in &#821604 but dropped way off in &#821605. He drafted 2 defense guys: a DT in &#821604 and a CB in &#821605. Picked up a S in CFA. I remember that I scratched my head when he traded up to pick Losman - who I thought was overrated.

I like what Vortex7 said about running the ball. The rebuilt OL should help. All in all - might be a good fit here - if he gets a good DC and listens to him.

Posted by BlackKnight on 2010-12-16 02:43:25

I have no real opinion of Brian Xanders except that we are much better off with dead money than when the touted Goodman&#8217s were here. Or do we praise McD and shame Shanny for that?

Mularkey doesn&#8217t give me the warm and fuzzys but that could well be because of the fact he was with Buffalo <img alt="wink" height="19" src="http://www.singernet.com/images/smileys/wink.gif" style="border:0;" width="19">. i admit though that other than that i know little about him.

Posted by Dennis Mitchell on 2010-12-16 02:32:22

Vortex,

You&#8217re right that they didn&#8217t spend much time together. More than that Mularky was the OC, I don&#8217t see him working closely with the Director of Football Administration and Player Personnel Analyst, which are the two jobs that Xanders had with the Falcons.

But when I said that they could work together I meant that they come from the same system and should share to some extant the same vision about how things should run.

Posted by Fan in Exile on 2010-12-16 02:25:37

Rig

His drafting doesn&#8217t impress me at all to say the least.

He did better in his CFA then he did in the actual draft.

Posted by NickCast on 2010-12-16 02:08:32

Don&#8217t necessarily think this has anything to do with Xanders.

1. Xanders never really worked with Mularkey. Mularkey was hired on January 25th, 2008 - Xanders was gone on May 8th. I think the interest in Mularkey has more to do with Matty Ice and Atlanta being 11-2 than any sort of relationship he and Xanders may or may not have.

2. Yes, it is good news for Xanders that more talk (at least externally) has been regarding head coaching and not general managing. But, going back to Atlanta, Thomas Dimitroff was hired at GM in 2008 on January 13th. Mike Smith was hired as Head Coach just 8 days later. I&#8217d assume the majority of the head coach decision making was made without Dimitroff.

At the end of the day, whoever the next Broncos Head Coach is, it will be primarily a Bowlen/Ellis decision with a little Elway sprinkled in. I don&#8217t read too much into Xanders&#8217s safety at this point.

That being said, I guess it goes without saying that I&#8217m very pro-Mularkey and anti-Xanders so - keep that in mind.

Posted by Vortex7 on 2010-12-16 01:20:55

Mularkey is a solid football guy, and while he probably wouldn&#8217t be my first choice, (without being in an interview) I could live with his hiring.

If he&#8217s the guy, it indicates to me that Brian Xanders has developed a strong power base, because the only person in the Broncos organization who seemingly would know Mularkey is Xanders. While Xanders was going as Mularkey was coming in 2008, I&#8217d be suprised if Brian didn&#8217t maintain some relationships there.

Posted by Ted Bartlett on 2010-12-15 23:48:35

good idea Nick Cast heres the players drafted in 2004-2005 when he was the HC

2004:

1.Lee Evans WR

1.JP losman QB

3. tim anderson DT

4. tim ehus TE

7.McFarland T

7. jonathon smith WR

also picked up Jason Peters in CFA

2005:

2. Roscoe Parish WR

3. Everett TE

4. Preston C

5. King CB

6. Geisenger OG

7. Gates RB

also picked up jim Leonhard saftey in CFA

it appears they traded up in 2004 to select Losman and lost there 1st and 2nd in 2005

Posted by Rig on 2010-12-15 23:32:13

I&#8217m thinking this is great news for Xanders for two reasons.

One if they are already looking at HCs then they are probably going to keep him with expanded powers.

Two if they are looking back to the Falcons it&#8217s probably because he can work with the guy.

Posted by Fan in Exile on 2010-12-15 21:33:51

Brilliant! I&#8217m currently doing a preview of Russ Grimm/Jim Harbaugh for MHR and will be looking into Mularkey next. Doesn&#8217t get enough credit for his work in Buffalo (his 9-7 2004 record with the team was its only winning season less decade) and with the Steelers where guys like Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox went to Pro Bowls. Most importantly, he&#8217d get us back to RUNNING THE FOOBALL. Good cold weather teams run the football. New England has Tom Brady and they still routinely finish in the top half of the league in rushing. We have to go back to our roots (and I don&#8217t mean Gary Kubiak).

Posted by Vortex7 on 2010-12-15 21:22:38

I&#8217m with undiedog. I&#8217d rather see a defensive-minded guy. Mularkey doesn&#8217t wow me that much, either, at least from his record alone. Gadget play strategy? Ummm&#8230no thanks. Gimme a team built from its lines out by a defensive expert. That&#8217s my $0.02.

Posted by jtomasik on 2010-12-15 21:21:24

Thanks for the extra effort on this one, Doug. This is all academic until the Broncos hire Omar Khan or Eric DeCosta or whomever. But Mularkey does intrigue me. He&#8217s been in some well-run organizations and actually managed a winning season in Buffalo. Coming out of Pittsburgh, the guy would be 3-4 friendly and would, ahem, value defense.

FWIW, Andrew Bryant at NFP says they&#8217ve got some stories on organization-building coming up soon. Should be interesting for all of us.

Posted by Chibronx on 2010-12-15 20:49:37

Nick, Mularkey was just the HC. The GM was Tom Donahoe during his tenure, and was fired for Levy

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2010-12-15 20:44:25

Well&#8230at least he isn&#8217t a rookie coach&#8230

I don&#8217t know much about this guy. I&#8217m going to go look at who he drafted to Buffalo in those drafts.

Posted by NickCast on 2010-12-15 20:37:02

Good stuff. He&#8217s definitely a &#8220person of interest&#8221

and the story doesn&#8217t seem full of mularkey at any rate. <img alt="wink" height="19" src="http://www.singernet.com/images/smileys/wink.gif" style="border:0;" width="19">

Still wonder if they might not be better off hiring a defensive minded HC, but then realize it&#8217s the man more than that, and who they have around them. Mularkey, with Wade Phillips or someone like that as DC would work just fine.

Posted by underdog on 2010-12-15 18:59:48

thanks for the &#8220extra mile&#8221 reporting with good background/context info